Will, Ranger 50
by Alyss Mainwaring
Summary: Halt's retiring and Gil now needs to appoint a second in command. Problem is, Will is fond of the number 50. It's an entertaining number. Another issue is that Gil and Will have been waiting for Halt's retirement for 3 years. 3 years is a long time to be able to plan something. *Cute fluff fic that makes everyone happy. -Aly


"Sup Gil," Will said extremely casually as he walked into the commander's tent. He grabbed and chair and swung it around until it was backwards and then sat on it. Gil sighed.

"You just make yourself at home don't you? You should be suspicious because I asked you to come here rather than me coming to you, which would mean another mission and that no normal people should be in here."

"But are any of us really normal?" Will cheekily replied and then spun so his feet were on the table before continuing. "Anyway, I should be your favourite!"

"What did you do this time?" Gil asked with an eyebrow raised. Hopefully it wasn't giving another person into slavery. Yes it did solve a few things but honestly, there were only so many people you could send before the Nobles got curious and asked as to where all of these people were disappearing to. The Skandians would soon run out of positions and the Barons would soon run out of people to hang to discourage other people to commit similar crimes, all in all, it wasn't exactly the best thing for Will to be doing. No one had told him off for it yet though for two reasons; 1. it was the always the funniest thing ever when Gil received another thank you letter from Erak and 2. It was Will. Enough said.

From somewhere in his cloak Will produced two cups of coffee. Gil had no clue as to how he had managed to get them into the tent and hide the wonderful smell for this long. "And I even put honey in it." Gil grinned and started drinking after taking a cup.

"I've needed this," he said appreciatively.

"You need to get out of this stuffy tent and enjoy the gathering. After all, it's nearly over for the year."

"Yeah. There are a few positions that I'm uncertain of and I'm still trying to work them out."

So for the next hour both men worked on shuffling the current rangers so that all of the graduating apprentices were able to go into a nice quiet positioning and the few rangers who needed to be rewarded would be receiving a larger fief to look after. There was a pause as Will realised who was retiring.

"But this is going to leave a position open in the advisors," he commented frowning.

"And now we come to the reason why I called you in here. Basically I need a new second in command and there is no one I trust more in the corps than you," Gil said watching Will closely for his reaction.

"But surely there are other rangers who are more deserving of such a position. Rangers who having been doing this for longer and don't have the tendency to give people away to any visiting Skandians as slaves!"

Gil shook his head. "Its not that I have to watch for. I need someone whose judgement I can trust and who others will also trust. If there are two people who graduated at the same time and both are fairly solid rangers, which there are quite a few of them who am I going to pick? And anyway, I need someone young, someone who has a bit more enthusiasm than the old codgers I normally work with inside this stuffy tent."

"So you want me to work with you in this stuffy tent instead? Why can't you torture someone else?" Will whined jokingly.

"See, I need a few jokes in here to remain sane. After all, all of the people in Castle Araluen look at me and sneer because I'm so young and they believe that I shouldn't be in charge of something so important at this age."

"What? Ignoring the fact that in two years Horace and Evelyn will take over the kingdom, both younger than you were when you took over the corps. And you have an extra two years apprenticeship-"

"Which was just Crowley giving me all his paperwork so he could flirt with the Ladies of the court and just read over what I had written at night, I know!"

Suddenly Will's brained connected two dots that Gil had expected it to connect a little earlier.

"Second in command? But only one of the senior rangers is retiring."

"See I forgot to mention that aspect. Two are," GIl said with a grin.

"Two?" Who's the other one?"

"Halt."

"Awesome. So when are we getting him a dog?" Will continued, guessing where this was going.

"You brought Tempest with you right?" GIl replied with a grin. Tempest was one of the descendants of Shadow that Will was training in a similar way to Ebony. He had seen the intelligence in the eyes of the Bitch when he first saw her and it wasn't until now that he knew why he had brought her back with him from his visit to Tobar.

"Awesome…" Will said with the exact same grin. The two of Halt's apprentices had this moment planned for a long time, ever since Crowley had announced his desire to retire in fact. It was one of the first things they did.

"So at the dinner I will be announcing the reshufflement, the retirement of Farrel and Halt and your new position as Ranger 2. Thank Gorlog that's done!" Gil said and placed his own feet on the desk just as Will removed his own in shock.

"I don't want to be Ranger 2!" he said. Gil looked at him blankly for a moment before bringing his coffee up to his mouth and taking a sip. It was getting cold but that was ok. The dinner was soon and coffee was a staple of the ranger diet.

"Why not?"

"I have grown fond of the number 50. There are still some of the older ranges who believe that because I hold number 50, they are above me. It's funny and entertains me after I meet the idiots after a long tiring mission in their fief because they grew too comfortable," Will explained.

"You are refusing number 2 because its entertaining to hold number 50?" Gil asked just to make sure he was on the same page.

"Yes," Will replied because it was true.

"I can see where you're coming from, but I can't just give the number to anyone, or the new graduates. People will get annoyed."

"Why don't you move the other advisors up and then make number 8 a normal position," WIll suggested. Gil paused and thought about this. It would solve a lot of questions and he could use some bullshit reason to give as to why Will would keep number 50.

"Works for me. It'll work for everyone else. See _this_ is why I need you here!" Gil said and Will finally conceded defeat.

The graduation and finaly dinner that nigth was possibly the most exciting thing that Gil and Will had ever been too. They couldn't wait to finally use their plan that had been practiced for two years and it was made even better as they saw Crowley every now and then drop food to his own dog that they had given him when he had retired.

"So on that note, after all of that reshuffling I have a few more things to announce. I left it till after the food because I couldn't allow all of you to go hungry. What sort of commander would I be if I did that?!" Gil announced with a smile and mock glared at Crowley.

"Halt and Farrel have both decided to retire this year. To replace Farrel I am pleased to announce Harrison!" There was large amounts of applause here as most of the rangers were on the way to being drunk. "Welcome to the chain of command, mate. Which of course leaves another position; my second in command. I couldn't think of anything better than to have Will behind me in the lead of the rangers!" Even more cheering at this point but the same level of sobriety.

"There was one issue I ran into here however." At once Crowley and Halt became suspicious at this. Everything so far was going normally, which was completely un-normal in itself. It wasn't possible for Will and Gil to do something as it had been done before.

"Will didn't want the number 2, and I wasn't really able to give it to just anyone. So I decided to shift the command numbers up. Harrison, as the newest to the position will take number 7 and number 8 will now be a normal position."

There was a pause as most of the rangers interpreted this new fact and attempted to work out if Will was going to be the second in command or not from number 50.

It was broken as Halt snorted in disbelief that the shuffling was over and Crowley burst out laughing.

"How can I attempt to run this thing properly and be taken seriously when you two aim to mock me at the job you appointed me!" Gil cried with a grin throwing his arms up in the air and all the papers that had been in his hands went flying. He then looked at them all very dramatically and sighed. "Screw those. I don't need them. Anyway, Will is my second in command and a close advisor now allowed in the tent of luxurity. He has grown too fond of the number 50 and refuses to give it up and so I let him keep it. After all I want him on my side." The last sentence was a over dramatic stage whisper that was spoken as though Will couldn't hear it. However as it was only a stage whisper Will did hear it and join Crowley on the floor with laughter, setting off the rest of the Rangers to laugh at him, who all welcomed the funny moments in their generally lonely lives.

Crowley was the one to interrupt this time and it was his turn the be over dramatic in the way he threw his hands in the air in protest."What am I leaving for the corps to come to?!" Halt again snorted whilst Will was stuck on the floor attempting to breathe.

"Of course even though both of the old sods are retired, they are both allowed to come into the high tent whenever they feel the need, or, more likely in Halt's case, whenever they feel as though I'm doing something stupid because face it, no matter what his position is, Halt's going to find a way to interrupt anything and everything.

"Number 8 is a normal number now and number 50 is going to be reserved for the second in command, where the person has a reputation trailing them. Because Rangers should be looking forwards but also back for clues... Will's constantly looking behind him, mainly to see if Halt's in ear shot of him singing _Greybeard Halt_ ," Gil finished and sat down, knowing there was no way that he was going to get past the rangers now. They were too drunk. Not drunk enough that they didn't know what was going on, but simply drunk in each other's company.

Will was still brave enough, stood up amongst his peers and waited until they went vaguely silent. "I am going to say something now, because even though I know Rangers don't hold much to ceremony, I feel as though this needs to be said.

"Halt is the closest thing I will ever have to a father and I couldn't be more grateful for everything he has done for me. From placing me in the ward, to Skandia to even telling me that my archery will never be anything more than mediocre. I know that he made a large impact in Gilan's life as well whilst he was his mentor. which is why for the past three years the two of us have planned this moment."

Halt chose this moment to interrupt, as Gil had guessed he would. "What? You have been planning for my retirement?" He asked mockingly, although everyone there could tell that this was a special moment for the old ranger who had given up everything for the corps.

Will nodded and then brought two fingers up to his mouth to let out an ear piercing whistle. Halt, Gilan and Crowley know this whistle, having been on the other end of it many times and therefore managed to plug their ears with their fingers. The other rangers weren't as lucky and didn't move fast enough, causing them all the wince at the noise.

"Now you all know what it feels like to me when Crowley makes 'music'," Halt muttered and Crowley punched him in the arm as Gil and Will grinned.

"Stand up, Halt," Gilan said and he did as asked.

Two seconds later he was bowled over by an enthusiastic puppy who insisted that his face hadn't received enough kisses and proceeded to rectify this issue. Halt's mouth dropped in shock and tears appeared in his eyes as he looked proudly at his former apprentices.

"Weren't you training her for Gil?" Halt asked Will.

"No. Every time I was teaching her a new command I would ask you what it should have been and how to direct it. I mean I gave her the generic 'quiet' and 'stay' that Ebony has but I trained her to respond to the commands you would give and your voice. She listens to you, occasionally me, but no one else Halt."

Halt ruffled the ears of the puppy. She was a bright spark and he knew that she was going to do well. "Thank you," he mouthed to Gil and Will, knowing that if he spoke it out loud his voice would have broken.

The cheer from the resounding Rangers brought the three men back to the present and place and Halt felt as though he needed to fix his standing again.

"How am I going to get this past Pauline?"

* * *

 **Well that was nice and long. Impressive for me, I know.**

 **I can't tell you how much fun I had writing this. I wrote it in between writing chapter 22 of Abhorsen I was that enthousiastic.**

 **I had played with the idea for a while that Will & Gil give Halt and Crowley a dog each when they retire but I had never gotten around to writing it. I mean it was in my ideas book and all, just waiting. **

**But then I had the idea about the no. 50 ranger and felt that it needed some justice, so from there I combined it with the dog and there you go, a long fic!**

 **I have written 2 chapters and this today with two of those reaching 2000 words and the other 1600. Do you know how impressive that is? No?ok… ignore me then.**

 **Please ignore my use of the word 'sup'. I know, I know.**

 **Oh, and Tempest is a horse from a jouster I know. Gorgeous horse that adores jousting and strangely enough the jouster on it was my vision of how Halt would look. It was amazing!**

 **Anyway, I have written enough for the day and will now take my leave.**

 **Valete**

 **Alyss Mainwaring**


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